Kansas St. vs. Texas (-6-) 8:00 ET
Kansas St. visits Texas for Game 2 of the Big 12 schedule for each team. These two teams met last year with the Longhorns prevailing (61-57) in Manhattan, while Texas (as -10) scored a (62-49) win on this court. Much has changed this season for Kansas St., who has transformed a team that was 15-17 SU last year into a 10-3 SU, 6-4 ATS team this season. One glance at our list of “2016 SUPER Ds of College Hoops” gives you a strong basis for this selection.

Shaka Smart has brought his “havoc” from VCU to Texas. But, as he is quickly finding out, it may be a couple of seasons before his own recruits can play his preferred style of 94’ basketball. For right now, Smart is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. With little success, it shows his Longhorns to be 3-8 ATS. On Saturday night, Smart also learned that “this aint the A10.” For, his Longhorns’ visit to TTRR resulted in an (82-74) defeat to one of the lesser lights in the strongest league in the country. Tonight, Texas will also be without one of their premier players, as interior force Ridley will miss yet another contest.

Betting Analysis
To date, it has been a turnaround season for 4th year Kansas St. HC Weber. After his Wildcats had authored a series of 20-win campaigns, the record plummeted to 15-17 SU LY with an exit in the First Round of the Big 12 CCT. This year, Kansas St. was again ticketed for the lower echelon of the Big 12 with just 2 returning starters. In fact, Weber virtually turned over his roster. He first dismissed Marcus Foster (the team’s leading scorer in each of the last 2 seasons), also gone were contributors Tre Harris and Malek Harris. In addition, sophomores Jevon Thomas and Nigel Johnson decided to transfer. The end result is that the new pieces have resulted in a much better work ethic, better chemistry and better cohesion. Last year, Kansas St. had 9 losses decided by 6 points or less. The improved intangibles have resulted in a 10-3 SU record. The team has been a lot tougher and more competitive. This is translated into Kansas St. making our opening list of “2016 SUPER Ds of College Hoops”. The Wildcats allow just 64 PPG, 40% from the field, 25% from the arc and have positive margins in rebounds, assist/TO ratio and net TO margin. Those numbers will win you a lot of basketball games, as the 10-3 SU record attests. The 3 losses have been against Top 25 teams, N. Carolina, A&M and last Saturday (87-83) home OT thriller to highly-ranked WVU. Among the scalps they have claimed are those of Missouri, AT Georgia and Colorado (all teams of the same ilk as these Longhorns). As the Wildcats have proven defense, rebounding and taking care of the basketball will take you a long way in this sport.